On the fifth night of the BMW Tate Live Exhibition Carlos Casas presents the world premiere Sanctuary, an experimental sound and infrasound environment by day and live film experience by night. Inspired by the myth of the elephants’ graveyard – a place where elephants instinctively know to go at the end of their lives – Sanctuary takes up themes of extinction, interspecies communication and the cinematic imaginary. Part adventure film, part experimental nature documentary, the film gives way to a spectacle of stroboscopic light signalling the journey’s transition to a purely sonic experience, featuring live Ambisonics 3D sound spatialisation and infrasound recordings documented and developed by sound artist Chris Watson in collaboration with spatial sound specialist Tony Myatt.

In the East Tank, Melanie Bonajo’s Pilgrimage with the Animals proposes a space in which we can communicate through the senses. Attempting to create a sense of unity with the creatures with whom we share the planet, the performance challenges the forms of relationships that humans build with the animal world, asking whether we can move beyond a sense of reverence for the animal, the rainforest, the mountain or the wilderness towards a more concrete ethics of shared experience and solidarity. Bonajo asks: ‘In what ways are we consciously and unconsciously connected with other life forms? Will some of our thoughts and feelings go extinct along with the species vanishing from our lives?’ Pilgrimage with the Animals is performed by Patricia Bardi, Izabella Finch, Daniel Hernandez, Anthony Goh, Edoardo Mozzanega and Rozalind Holgate Smith, with new music by the composer Michael Beharie.

Isabel Lewis hosts her ongoing series of Occasions, a complete sensory experience bringing music, dance, food, and drink to the Tanks.

CAMP’s Four-Letter Film can be seen during a fifteen-minute period in the East Tank. The film takes the form of an overheard conversation that plays out through text displayed via a large-scale, minimum-bandwidth LED structure.

About the artists

Isabel Lewis (b.1981, Dominican Republic)

Since 2009 Isabel Lewis has been investigating the role of artist as host. Her signature Occasions – celebratory and sensory gatherings of things, people, plants, music, and dance – offer an alternative to the sterility and visual dominance of the traditional exhibition format. With the Occasions Lewis creates a more complete, bodily experience for the visitor offering an open situation in which guests may freely enter, exit, and revisit. Exploring modes of connection and attention, Lewis shapes a sensorial experience that responds to the energies of her guests. Her Occasions investigate how the subtle introduction of a word, sound, movement, or scent can shift perception and awaken the importance of being together.

Carlos Casas (b.1974, Spain)

Carlos Casas is a filmmaker and artist whose work crosses sound, film, and visual art. In 2001, he began a series of documentaries for Colours Magazine, three of which later formed the End Trilogy 2002–8, comprised of films dedicated to the most extreme environments on the planet: Patagonia, the Aral Sea, and Siberia. These works were screened and awarded at festivals the world over, including Venice Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Buenos Aires International Film Festival, Mexico International Film Festival and FIDMarseille. His 2010–2 project Avalanche was a visual-sonic live journey featuring a sound collaboration with musician and filmmaker Phill Niblock. Casas is also co-founder of Map Productions with filmmaker Saodat Ismailova and runs the audiovisual label Von Archives with artist Nico Vascellari.

Melanie Bonajo (b.1978, The Netherlands)

Bonajo is an artist based in Amsterdam and New York. Her work examines the paradoxes inherent to ideas of comfort. Through her videos, performances, photographs, and installations, Bonajo studies subjects related to how technological advances and commodity-based pleasures increase feelings of alienation, removing a sense of belonging in an individual. Captivated by concepts of the divine, she explores the spiritual emptiness of her generation, examines peoples’ shifting relationship with nature and tries to understand existential questions by reflecting on our domestic situation, ideas around classification, concepts of home, gender and attitudes towards value. She is the initiator of the Genital International collective which tackles issues such as feminism, equality and participation, and a member of the band Z▲Z▲Z◎Z◎.